Before TwentyThree
by Dana-Lith
Summary: Kai wakes up in a lonely prison cell, how did he get here? what's going on? Why can't he remember anything...?


Ok, this is actually a fanfic written by my good friend Ash who, due to tight-ass parents, can't get an account of her own and has asked me to post this for her…Tell us what you think!

A.N: Any flames will be used to heat our houses this winter

Disclaimer: No, neither of us own Beyblade…dam…

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Before Twenty-three

It's far too hot, I don't remember where I am, I can't see. I lean back against something cold, a wall, it must be a wall, it's hard as rock and I can feel the brick work if I move my hand. My legs are tired; they can't hold me for long so I allow myself to slide down the wall into a sitting position. I don't know how long I have been here, I can't remember anything. I let my head touch the wall gently for the comfort the cold provides. I shut my eyes and try to gather my thoughts. I remember a never ending expanse of sand, red sand and intolerable heat. I had been there for some time, then I blacked out. So how did I end up here? As far as my memory provides there was only sand, going on for ever.

Something is coming back to me, a name and as soon as I think of it I know it is my own. I open my crimson eyes and smirk as part of my memory returns. I am Kai. I remember what I look like, where I come from, who used to be my friends, even if they didn't think I cared. I lift my head slightly and wait for my vision to come into focus. It takes a while but when it does I can see that I am in a cell with one window and a bed. I had been going somewhere, but I can't remember where. I have been here before, I'm sure of it, I recognise the stone but not so much as my own memory but as if from a story told to me. Now I force myself to stand and walk, following words that someone else told me until I come to a place where the rock is softer than anywhere else.

I let my eyes trace the stone before me, a name is scratched almost hastily upon it; _Rei, 096, before 23._ I blink at it. Rei had described this place to me, I remember that now but I still don't know where I am, why I am here. I stare at the last part of the message, 'before 23', 23 what? Days? Years? Seconds? I was sure it was a length of time, and I knew that if I reached whatever 23 was something bad would happen, no, something terrible. So what is 096?

I sit down against the wall again. It's too hot and I can't think while I'm like this. I take off my scarf, there is no point keeping my image here, but I'm still too hot so I take off my shirt as well. I examine my surroundings again. If I even get out of here I'm going to beat the hell out of Rei, if he found a way out he should have left enough information for me. I rub my neck gently, and think of all I know about Rei, but nothing comes to mind about 096. In fact the more I think about Rei the less I can remember.

I get up and walk over to the bars of my cell. I touch them gently but have to recoil as the metal is so hot. I look through the bars, I can see one other cell but its in shadow and I can't see if anyone's inside. "Hello?" I call in hope. I hear a shuffling noise then someone comes into sight. "Where am I?" I ask.

"Prison mate," the man replies. "Awaiting death I should think, you are in the cell that they normally use" My blood runs cold, waiting for death? Why? The man sees my expression. "I'm ninety-six by the way; I had a name once but can't remember it for the life of me."

"Ninety-six?" of course! I'm in prison it's only logical that 096 is a prisoner. "You helped Rei Kon escape? I'm Kai his friend" He looks at me with something like horror. "What is it?" I ask.

"Something is wrong with you, mate," he says very seriously. I stare at him. "Rei Kon died here several years ago. I was his best friend, he was the son of an inmate, he lived and died in the cell you're in right now." I blink at him again. "That's right pal you have a sick sense of humour."

"But that can't be right," I mutter staring at him. "Rei is alive and well, he lived out there," I point out the window. "In a city, him and Tyson and Max, they all live out there! I belong out there with them!" He is staring at me again, as if I'm insane. I stare back, he has to be wrong, I'm beginning to panic now, he looks at me as if I should be put away.

"Kai," he whispers staring at me. "No body lives out there, a group of terrorists got their hands on some nuclear weapons; they bombed all of Europe and in other continents the same thing was happening, to live out there, is to die out there." My heart sinks. "Kai, it's gone all of it, Tyson and Max are dead, they were two of the terrorists."

I back away, this can't be happening. I can't be insane; I know the world still spins round outside. I fall to my knees. I look at the mark Rei made on the wall. I touch it gently from where I have fallen. Some dirt falls away and I can see more to the message _Rei, 096, before 23__rd__ of Jan 66, 089, 099 and 056, Tyson Kai and Max, escape, area 51. _ I look at my wrist and glance at my watch, it says that it is the 24 of Jan 66. I glance at the man who is still watching me. "I was one of them," I mutter memory returning. "Yes, I have been here before I was 099, me Tyson and Max got out." I look outside. "We got others to join our cause and then planned to bomb the world for what it had done..." I stare at the ground guilt finally bearing into me. "I helped destroy the world."


End file.
